Mice in the Dark
by Draco the Spirit Dragon
Summary: When one Judgement officer uncovers a web of conspiracy and lies at the heart of Academy City. She decided that she will fight it, even if she feels like a small mouse in the dark surrounded by hungry eyes.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N:_ Been a while, but I thought I do a little piece featuring Uiharu as the main character. It's not connected with any of my other little pieces and I'm choosing to ignore anything post Othinus arc in the LNs, since there's a fair bit of ongoing narrative that leavings lots of the setting very much up in the air. Using plenty of the New Testaments era cast through, so spoiler ahoy if you're an anime only reader.

* * *

Chapter 1: Contact

Uiharu bite her lip as she adjusted her floral hairband. She wasn't quite sure how she felt about relying on its more recent addition... but Xochitl was skilled and highly professional according to Misaka Mikoto.

"You ok Uiharu?" Asked Konori-senpei from behind her, making Uiharu almost jump out of her skin

"Co-course!" Uiharu nervously stammered out in reply as she turned to face her Judgement senior. "Just a bit nervous, ha ha ha!"

Konori-senpei smirked before saying "You've done a lot for the 177th Judgement Branch since you joined, it's only right your hard work gets properly recognised and rewarded."

"I just feel Shirai should be doing this, not little old me." She replied without adding _especially the parts you have no idea about…_

"Nonsense. Shirai is a great in the field, but it's your detective work around those poor Child Errors being abused that's got the Boards attention."

 _You really have no idea…_

"On that note, it's time for you to get moving. The whole board, besides the Chairman, are taking thirty minutes out of there very busy schedules to give you an Academy City Special Services Award, so let's not be late."

Uiharu stepped into the lift, alone and uneasy. As it slowly ascended upwards, she interlaced her fingers, pulled her bottom lip back slightly and took a deep breath. It was time. As the lift came to a stop. She straightened her back, relaxed her hands and put her best 'Polite Judgement Officer' face on.

"Hello there, I'm Uiharu Kazari. I believe you have been waiting for me?" She said as she walked through the lift door.

"Indeed, we have." Said an older suited man who was sitting in the centre of line of very comfortable looking occupied chairs behind tables. The other chair's owners were also smartly dressed and older, through mostly female. Scattered around the room were several strong looking young men in suits who almost certainly were armed security.

"You're a very talented young lady Miss Uiharu, especially with electronics." He continued.

"Is that why you made sure I had none with me when I entered the room?" She replied with a slightly cheeky tone. He gave a hearty laugh at that.

"Well it's not like your Esper power has got you this far, though I find it hard to believe hacking alone got you all the results you achieved... it was almost like a rather high powered Electromaster was helping you from the shadows and letting you take the full credit..."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Oh, but you do, and you're not leaving this room till we get the -full- story"

"And if I don't talk?"

"We will make you talk. This is Academy City and we are the Board of Directors. We have far more elegant and certain ways to make you talk than mere torture if you think you can 'tough' your way through an interrogation. Through if you keep up this defiant attitude, maybe little Miss Saten Ruiko will end up having a tragic accident after we are done with you."

"Then I guess I'll have to tell you the full story. But only if you promise to leave Saten out of this, it's not like she knows anything anyway…"

He gave a little nod. "If you explain fully how you became such a pest to the secret projects, then I'll promise not to let your little friend get dragged into your consequences"

"So, you promise Mr…?"

"Mr Hirata" He replied with an arrogant tone. "And yes, I promise to leave your friend alone, through only if you start talking about what you've been poking your nose in."

Uiharu nodded.

"Then I best start at the beginning, the day I learned of this city's dark underbelly…"

 _Uiharu was out on patrol when she received a call from Konori-senpei._

" _Hey Uiharu, you're near the arcades in our patch, right?"_

" _I am... why?"_

" _We got reports of two little girls playing on the sort of horror game that only High School students should really be playing, can you find them and point them towards something more age appropriate?"_

" _Oh sure, easy enough!"_

 _And with that she set to find the pair, mentally readying her 'Why you shouldn't really be playing such a game yet' speech. But before long she heard her voice…_

" _So, we now need to find the keycard to get the blue door open, explains Misaka as Misaka continues her heroic quest to stop the zombie plague!" Said a voice that sounded an awful lot like a certain young girl with an ahoge…._

" _Also, we absolutely need to find blankets or something for all these girls we've saved, they seemed to have lost most of their cloths in the chaos of the outbreak." Said an unfamiliar, but also rather young sounding voice. "I mean what if some pervert walked in here after we stopped the outbreak? Those girls would absolutely be embarrassed!"_

 _Uiharu sighed deeply. At least she knew which white haired guardian she needed to find after this. He would also need a chat on the topic 'keeping your charge away from inappropriate content'. With that thought she walked around the corner and towards the voices._

 _As expected, one of the voices was indeed the young Misaka._

" _Ahh hello again Uiharu of Judgement says Misaka as Misaka casually makes a one-handed headshot using the simulated firearm with oddly no recoil. It's nice to meet you again, and by the way this is my friend Fremea, says Misaka as Misaka motions towards the blond with her free hand."_

 _The girl in question was indeed blond, with blue eyes and features that suggested she had at least a fair bit of western blood in her veins, if was not completely of western decent. Age wise she looked younger than the young Misaka by a year or two. Cloth wise she seemed to be rather fond of the colour white and pink, with frilly and fluffy stylings. She was also wearing a cute little beret._

 _The pair of them were currently stood on a little chair they were using to gain the height they needed to play on an arcade machine, with the art on the machine proclaiming it to be 'Night of the Zombies, Save the Babes and Build Your Harem!'_

" _Nice to meet you Fremea." Uiharu said in friendly tone before switching to her best 'reasonable authority figure' tone. "But Misaka, don't you think the two of you are a bit on the young side to be playing a game like 'Night of the Zombies, Save the Babes and Build Your Harem'. I mean I be surprised if either of you even knew what harem was yet... why don't we go over to the section more aimed at your age and see if they have 'Gekota Saves the Day Seven' in yet?"_

" _Ahh your being ageist against us because were small says Misaka as Misaka casually clears the room of the undead in a humane and efferent way as she talks. We played 'Gekota Saves the Day' one to six in a single afternoon and completed them all on the first time further explains Misaka before Misaka adds, Gekota may be cute, but his games are super easy."_

" _Also, we absolutely know what a harem is already." Fremea added defiantly. "It's when a boy has lots of friends who are girls, who are friends with him because he helped them through some really bad troubles"_

" _Like Kamijou, Misaka adds as Misaka runs up the stairs to create space between her and the zombies!"_

" _So, we absolutely want to play games that are more challenging." Fremea further explained in a tone that suggested 'I'm very much in the right, thank you very much!'._

 _Uiharu sighed. Defiant small children were all too common in Academy city, she suspected it had a lot to with the higher level of independence that living in a mostly student city granted them, there wasn't as many adults around to tell them off when they crossed lines._

" _I get the you want challenge. But games like this aren't too good for you." Uiharu explained in a reasonable tone. "There lots of blood and other horrible things that can cause you nightmares."_

" _Oh, those sorts of things don't bother me says Misaka as Misaka jumps down from the landing while shooting. Violence in video games is always unrealistic, and the dead bodies never look right, Misaka explains as Misaka reflects on the bodies she seen in the past via the Network."_

" _Wait what?" Uiharu replied as she tried to digest what she had just heard._

" _Last Order you absolutely mentioned the Network in your third person comments again." Fremea explained before adding to Uiharu. "It's one of those subconscious things she not really aware of."_

" _But bodies, you seen bodies?" Uiharu asked in a slightly panicked tone as she directed the talk back towards the most important detail._

" _Not directly Misaka admits before Misaka adds, but the memories are clear as my own, and just as real."_

" _Er?"_

" _Back in the Experiments we were told 'we' was a 'I' explains Misaka before Misaka adds with regretful feelings, but after losing 10031 units in the name of 'progress', we realised 'I' was joining of many 'I's to form a 'us'. We love Kamijou for saving us and forgive Accelerator for falling for the same lies as us, Misaka further explains before Misaka finishes with quiet deep-rooted anger, but we will not forgive the system that thinks that so much death, murders and lies is acceptable to push their goals forwards."_

 _The little Misaka stood there in front of the game in silence for a few long moments, having cleared the room of zombies in the game she had been playing with a shocking amount of skill for a little girl._

" _And?"_

 _That was Fremea. She sounded and looked serous._

" _And we will drag Accelerator out of his pit of shame, we will dry the Original tears and we will earn the respect of Kamijou by creating a world of smiling faces and happy hearts Misaka shouts as Misaka shows her defiance of the corrupt system that runs this city!"_

 _Fremea nodded. "No more dead loved ones."_

 _Uiharu on the other hand had no idea on how to initially react. She wanted to say 'stop making up such silly stories', but the two little girls in front of her did not sound like fools or tricksters. The events of that day she had first met the little Misaka and Accelerator had more than suggested that she wasn't exactly living a normal life…. and in the context of what she was saying, Accelerator's actions made a lot more sense. While Uiharu didn't know all the details yet (and she would get them all), Accelerator had acted like a man haunted by the guilt of misdeeds, and it didn't take a large leap of logic to consider that maybe he didn't consider a little girl forgiveness enough to wipe his slate of guilt truly clean._

 _Her uncertainty came to an end._

" _I'm going to help you create that world." She declared. "That I swear."_

"And that's how I learned that there was something very rotten in this city." Uiharu stated as she finished her story.

"So, you learned about the 'Radio Noise Project' from the clones themselves, and decided to go on a crusade of justice to put things right for them?" Mr Hirata said with a rather nasty sort of smirk.

"I'm not so simple or crude in my sense of justice. I wasn't so naive to think the 'Radio Noise Project' would be the only dark murderous project active in this city. The existence of the 'Agitate Halation Project' didn't take much digging to find"

"Because Fremea told you about it?"

"Indeed." Uiharu replied with a quick nod. "But I needed evidence and proof past the say so of a pair of minors if I was going to put all of you rotten abusers of trust in the cold hard jail cell you belonged in."

She said that last bit with a little self-assured smile. It had the intended effect.

"And you really think you can put us all in jail little girl?" Mr Hirata replied with the expected hint of distain in his voice. "Academy City operates under a system were those who get caught, get cut away and knowledge of their crimes denied. If we have to let a few scientists face the music, we will. But the system of aggressive pursued progress will continue, and a few sacrifices are nothing for the rewards of progress."

"If your idea of progress includes getting results by creating pile of corpses while hiding from the consequences, then your understanding of histories mistakes is very lacking. No one can run away from their deeds forever." Uiharu explained sternly.

"Consequences can be managed." Mr Hirata replied sharply. "Through it seems that's a skill you have failed to developed. So why don't you explain a little more about your allies before Miss Saten becomes an involved party?"


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N:_ Reuploaded due to some bad typos. Don't rush proof your own work at 10pm folks.

* * *

Chapter 2: Operatives

"Consequences can be managed." Mr Hirata replied sharply. "Through it seems that's a skill you have failed to developed. So why don't you explain a little more about your allies before Miss Saten becomes an involved party?"

"Well it's going to be a bit long winded, but let me explain how I got the girls together..." Said Uiharu before she continued the story.

 _Uiharu pushed the doorbell with more than a little unease in her heart._

" _Ahh Uiharu, Last Order said you were coming." Said Yomikawa of Anti-Skill as she opened the door. "Something about needing to talk to Accelerator about her gaming habits?"_

" _Yes." Uiharu lied. "She been playing inappropriate games. As her guardian, it's his job to make sure that doesn't happen, as a Judgement Officer it's my job to remind him of that."_

 _Yomikawa nodded as she led Uiharu through the house. "It be good for the both of them for someone other than me to give Accelerator advice on being a better guardian. They both need to get used to dealing with people from the wider world, I'm glad one of the first is you Uiharu."_

 _Uiharu felt a twang of guilt at deceiving the Anti-Skill Officer, but she needed to keep things simple. Eventually they reached the living room. Accelerator was lazing about on the sofa half asleep while Last Order was playing some game featuring a Italian American plumber and his epic quest for cake._

" _I have a guest?" He muttered as he opened his eyes._

" _This is Uiharu Kazari of Judgement." Yomikawa explained while motioning to Uiharu. "Apparently Last Order has been misbehaving. So as her guardian it's your duty to handle this matter."_

 _Accelerator sighed and muttered._

" _What's the Brat done?"_

" _Well she..."_

" _I refused to bow to the whims of the arbitrative age restriction system says Misaka as Misaka buts into the conversation to control it's flow!"_

 _Both of them looked down at the small girl on the floor._

" _Maybe it be best to talk alone about the best way to handle this?" Uiharu asked in helpful tone._

" _Probably. Hey Brat.." Accelerator started, however Last Order hit pause on her game and was already moving. However rather than moving directly out of the room, she went into the corner, picked up a blanket and threw it onto Accelerator._

" _We will leave you two all alone now says Misaka after Misaka threw the teddy huggable blanket on the Boy, with a mischievous wink!"_

 _Last Order and Yomikawa then left then left the room with grins on their faces._

" _Your not really here about the Brats gamings habits are you?" He asked bluntly as put the blanket to one side.  
_

" _No I'm here regarding events that came to a end last August on the 22nd"_

 _It was a simple statement, but one that completely changed the mood in the room._

" _I see." He replied coldly. "And what do plan to do in regards to events that came to end last August on the 22nd?"_

" _Ensure justice sees it's full course." She said in a rather neutral tone._

" _What is your Esper power incidently?" he asked all too casually as his fingers played around near his collar for a few long moments._

" _Oh nothing major. My power is called Thermal Hand, and in truth I'm only a Level 1 Esper anyway."_

 _He took a good long stare at her._

" _I get why you might see me as a threat. But I'm here to test hypothesis, not test my wits against a genius, with quicker wits and monstrous levels of raw power."_

 _Accelerator then started to laugh in a rather psychotic way before saying loudly._

" _So you come in here with clear knowledge of what I'm capable of, and then make it clear you know information that dangerous to me. I don't know if should think you bold or foolish Uiharu Kazari of Judgement!"_

" _I would prefer bold!" Uiharu replied with cheeky grin despite the fact her heart was beating like crazy._

 _He then laughed some more. Uiharu resisted the desire to bolt for the door. She couldn't bring justice unless she kept her nerve._

" _And what hypothesis do you want to test first Uiharu?" He asked with a sadistic looking grin on his face._

" _That you a victim of circumstance, abused and used by your elders to further there goals. That what you seek the most is to have no enemies and to be surrounded by a loving family."_

 _Those words knocked the grin right off his face. Briefly Uiharu saw the emotion she had been looking for cross his face._

" _You been talking to the Brat haven't you?" He responded with a annoyed tone._

 _Uiharu nodded. "But that's not the hypothesis you subscribe too. Yours is admittedly rather similar to Last Order's, but their some major differences isn't there?"_

 _He didn't like those words. The glare she received in reply told Uiharu that very clearly._

" _Careful what you say next." he growled._

" _Am I right?"_

" _Lets say your hypothesis is close to reality, what then?"_

"Well l _ets also say you can't be in her life because consequence has caught up with you. While I can't sympathise with your situation, I certainly can empathise. If you knew exactly what I was up too, you would want to start taking steps to safeguard her future with you missing now."_

 _He nodded slightly._

" _If your plotting what I think your plotting..." He stared at her rather intently a moment. "Then there is no way I'm not going to get burned too, but the Brat is a innocent party in all this. However if we just leave things to chance, then she might get caught up some new kind of darkness... "_

 _She nodded back._

" _So who do I trust to keep her safe and smiling with me gone..." He said with a distant expression. Uiharu politely gave him space to think and remained quiet._

" _The first name that springs to mind is Kamijou." He stated before adding. "But the more I think about it, the less sensible it seems."_

 _Uiharu cocked her head at that. Last Order had told her much about the brave and kind boy who had fought to save the Sisters._

" _He's constantly surrounded by crazy super powerful girls trying to sleep with him and is the exactly sort of person who will drop everything and take on the world because someone said 'help me'. I don't want the Brat in that unstable war zone."_

" _Oh." was Uiharu only reply to that._

" _Yes 'oh'. The Sisters view of him is a incomplete one. While I'm not questioning his heroic nature, there's no way in fucking hell would I trust him to raise a young child, especially a girl. He'll come running if he know she's in trouble regardless anyway. "_

" _So who is their that's capable of keeping her both safe and raising her properly?" Uiharu asked before adding. "Little Fremea seems to be in a similar situation and the two girls get on well..."_

" _Mugino a fucking Yandere." Accelerator replied roughly. "ITEM somehow came to terms with there past actions against each other, but I'm not trusting Last Order to there care with me out of the picture."_

" _Ok so.."_

" _It's fucking obvious." Accelerator said in angry tone with a frustrated expression._

" _So why are you so upset?" Uiharu asked softly._

" _Because she's going to fucking love the fact she got me over a barrel and gets to be the big hero for the Sisters." He ranted as he got and picked up a can of coffee from the table. "But the cold hard facts don't change because of that. She weaker than me by a long shot, but she still pretty much a demigod to most people. She loves all the Sisters to bits and I have no doubt she be more than willing to put her life on the line to protect them. For bonus points her dad the sort of person who can argue his way through and win the legal case that likely to spring up in regards to the Sisters legal status when this crap hits the fan!"_

 _He the drunk the whole can in one go before smashing it on the table._

" _Number Three, Misaka Mikoto is my best hope of insuring Last Order gets a 'happy ending'. I'm going to assume you've never met her, but she the sort of person that buys little kid mascot goods, and claims she's doing it as a 'collector'."_

 _The was awkward silence for a a good minute or so, but Uiharu bit the bullet, it wasn't like she be able to keep it a secret for long..._

" _I'm actually really good friends with her. Shirai Kuroko is both my Judgement partner and her roommate, so we end up spending a lot of time with each other, ha ha ha!" She explained nervously. He glared at her in return before saying in a rather low voice._

" _I can see the super cute world of sugary sweetness and flowers already. You've completed your objectives. Leave via the other door so we don't get hit by 'Brat's attempts to get me involved in romance part two' would you?"_

 _And with that she was unceremoniously kicked out._

 _It was sometime latter when she was walking down the street in thought that the afternoon took a unexpected turn._

" _Aww aren't you a cute little lamb?" Said a female voice as she put her arm around Uiharu. "Why don't we take a little walk and have some fun with friends!"_

" _Hey!" was all Uiharu could shout out as she was dragged along. Despite the other girl being of a similar size to herself, she was vastly stronger. Through it was tricky to get a proper look at her face, her style of cloths seem to be goth in style . After a good couple of minutes of being dragged through backstreets she was finally let go of, but the two of them were no longer alone._

" _As you can see, this Misaka has trained up her pet kitty really well." Said a older looking girl with a rather sadistic looking expression. "she's already mastered find and retrieve!"_

" _I'm pretty sure Kuroyoru doesn't appreciate being treated as a pet when she is in a fact a human being, says Misaka as she holds her dear friend who she would never her Electromaster powers on, unlike the defective model would on hers." Said a girl who bore more than a passing resemblance to Misaka Mikoto. Through the cute blue heart accessory and small black cat in her arms were things she would not associate with Mikoto, and the goggles on her head along with the doll like express would have made her blink a couple of weeks ago._

" _So you must be_ _Worst and one of the standard sisters?" Uiharu asked as she started to put the pieces together. "But why do you send your friend to drag me here like some delinquent planning to shake me down?"_

" _It's a simple security precaution explains Misaka before adding, Academy City has many eyes we would rather avoid the attention of. To clarify Kuroyoru was merely acting out a scene the cities more secret authorities would not follow up on Misaka adds with a glum tone as she notes the authorities general apathy towards their charges suffering._

 _Uiharu bit her lip. Not too long ago she would have found the idea that the Academy City authorities didn't care about the student safety ridiculous, but with what she had found out recently, she found the Misaka's cold pragmatic logic sound._

" _So why have you set up this meeting, I assume you desire to discus something sensitive?"_

 _The clone girl nodded._

" _We have been watching you for sometime, and believe you have the skills and mindset to help us achieving our goals, Misaka explains in a conspiratorial like tone to sound mysterious."_

" _I have a goal already." Uiharu explained. "My plan has a few holes in it still, but I will figure out how to make it work."_

" _Yes we've noticed you've been spending a lot of time with the Child Errors, asking quiet questions after earning trust, we assume you seek to find Child Errors in the grasp of darkness and save them Misaka asks after she relays_ _reconnaissance_ _."_

 _Uiharu smiled slightly, and then explained the plan in full detail._

 _Kuroyoru stared at her for a moment before asking "You've -really- have thought about this in detail haven't you?"_

" _Course I have, the injustice of what I merely know about is intolerable. Also if I mess up I'm either dead or worse."_

 _Kuroyoru nodded._

" _Probably worse. Academy City loves it when they got you over a barrel and can tear your humanity off you piece by piece as they poison your world and everything you love."_

" _This Misaka was birthed into a world of pain and suffering." Said_ _Worst. "So don't think they merely hurt those who have pissed them off. This Misaka is going to wreck them for thinking that was ever fine."_

" _Your basic plan seem pretty solid anyway." Kuroyoru stated. "I think that last bit hole could be filled if we had someone like Birdway on the team, but after everything that happened in Hawaii, it's not like I can just phone her up and ask for help... she would probably back stab us at the last junction anyway."_

" _The Network will make finding someone suitable a priority task explains Misaka as she relays the sub mission to her sisters."_

" _On the first part this Misaka methods have made considerably more headway than the Judgement Girl's fondness for tea and biscuits with small children. Partly in thanks to the help of her pet kitty we are pretty close to locating one of their latests projects geographical location."_

 _Kuroyoru snickered at that. Uiharu was pretty sure said methods didn't include polite questions._

" _And now our plans has someone 'respectable' to those who walk in the light. Illegal clones and delinquent Child Errors don't tend to get taken too seriously, but cute spotless clean Judgement Girls do, much to this Misaka's annoyance."_

" _Anyway find that location." Uiharu asked politely. "I'm going to need plenty of time to do the ground work if we are going to pull this off, and I can't do that till we have solid target to locate in cyberspace. Anyway contact me if we make any progress."_

 _The other girls nodded and with that Uiharu left._

"So the powerful Electromaster that's been causing us trouble isn't the Railgun herself but the Third Season clone 20002, most commonly known as Worst?" asked one of the female board members.

"That is correct Mrs...?"

"Kobayashi."

"Well you see Mrs Kobayashi, Worst has very similar set of powers to Misaka Mikoto. Between the fact we were acting covertly and her power set being a Level 4 version of Misaka Mikotos, it be easy to see the effects of her actions and assume it was the Railgun herself holding back a bit to keep her profile lower."

Mrs Kobayashi tutted.

"I kept trying to persuade the Chairman to get rid of it before it caused trouble!" Mrs Kobayashi exclaimed before ranting. "But he kept arguing the defective weapon was critical to keeping the Accelerator under control... but I thought that was what the the mostly defenceless unit 20001 is for! Leaving such a dangerous piece on the board was a mistake. I mean Level 4s are big enough handful at the best of times, but we literately taught it advance military tactics and combat skills to boot!"

Uiharu resisted the urge to show disgust at all the 'it's' in those words. She just had to play storyteller a little bit longer...

"Yes Worst was a real asset to my plans. Without Kuroyoru and her help, I would have struggled to deal with the physical threats to my plans for sure."

And would that be Kuroyoru Umidori of the Dark May Project?" Asked another female board member with a sigh.

"Indeed Mrs..?"

"Yamamoto."

In contrast to Mrs Kobayashi she was far calmer, if somewhat low in spirit.

"So how many more security threats have we created by not cleaning up properly after ourself?" Mrs Yamamoto said with a sigh while looking towards Mr Hirata. "Did someone create a few clone of Mental Out and teach them how to create home-made bombs while they were at it, then just send them to some random Middle Schools for the giggles?"

"We will deal with this matter and then review security Mrs Yamamoto." Mr Hirata said in a frustrated tone. "I agree with your general concerns through. Some of these brats have far too much power to be left unshackled. I suggested it before, but we really need to push more aggressively forwards on getting some solid blackmail material on the parents of students from places like Tokiwadai Middle School so we can keep all these Level 4s under firm control."

There was a general mummer of agreement amongst the board members on that subject.

"Now where was we Miss Uiharu?"


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Mission

"Now where was we Miss Uiharu? Mr Hirata asked as he stared at her from across the room.

Uiharu was tempted to say 'plotting to blackmailing rich families and killing the more dangerous Espers that you don't think anyone will miss', but she suspected their reaction would have been quite violent, so she kept to her plan.

"I was about to tell you about the actions we took, that got your attention." She explained.

"And don't think to skip on the important details." Mr Hirata firmly stated. "Or Miss Saten will be the one to face consequence."

 _Uiharu nervously walked quietly behind Worst, small laptop in hand as they approached the 'Windmill Middle School for Special Care', or from what Uiharu and the Sisters had scouted out, a high security facility to quietly research for 'Project Loyal Phoenix'. Worst and Kuroyoru by contrast walked with a confident and purposeful gait while the normal Sister ( unit 10032 as she put it) was acting as rearguard . Unlike before 10032 was wearing military goggles on her face and carrying a assault rife as a 'precaution'. The small black cat from the other day had apparently been left in care of a 'Sister of the Church of England' she knew for the night._

 _"This Misaka thinks it time for the Judgement Girl to trick there eyes." Worst ordered as they came close to the barbed wire fence that marked the outer edge of the facility. Uiharu nodded and opened her laptop before starting the program. She had spent the last week or so monitoring there cameras remotely to grasp how things worked inside, so knew things like patrol patterns, when which guards went on duty and even trash day. With that data she had then built a fake 'quiet evening' to play for the security watching the live camera feeds. Still regardless of how proud she was of her deception, she knew it was a matter of 'when' and not 'if' it would fail, so she stated._

 _"It's time to move, the clock is now ticking"_

 _Worst went first, running half way up the fence with her electromagnetism._

 _"Hey Kitty, This Misaka needs someone competent on the other side before she can send the newbie over."_

 _Kuroyoru sighed and ran up to the fence. As she jumped up, Worst grabbed her and flung her over the barbered wire fence. The girl landed with a slight thump, but was otherwise basically ok._

 _"Judgement Girl's turn." Worst said with a little too much relish. Uiharu closed her laptop and put it back in her bag before running towards the clone girl with great speed (mostly to escape her own fear and panic) before she was firmly grabbed and flung over the fence and into the waiting arms of Kuroyoru.. who caught her like she was some princess._

 _"Don't worry, your safe with me." She then whispered in a tone that made Uiharu feel anything but safe, and in fact would likely haunt her nightmares for several months. While Uiharu panicky got free of the now smirking girl, 10032 and Worst got over the fence with ease._

 _It was surprising how smooth things went from there. Worst took the lead role in the operation, quietly knocking out most of the guards with a well placed electrified pinch to the base of their neck from behind. Kuroyoru followed along with what looked suspiciously like a industrial sized bottle of strawberry syrup, squirting little puddles near the heads of each of the knocked out guards. Now and then she also played the role of 'lost child' drawing guards out of position so Worst could get the jump on them (a role she seemed to have enjoyed a little bit too much). 10032 was fairly passive for the most part, through now and again she would say 'Wait, orders Misaka quietly '. Which Worst would do so until she said 'Go, orders Misaka quietly'. Uiharu latter found out that the rest of the Sisters active in the city (bar Last Order) had surrounded the area and were quietly watching the guard patrols, via sniper rifle scopes, to make sure Worst didn't walk into a guards line of sight._

 _Eventually they reached the Offline Storage Room. The super high tech electronic locks (with fingerprint and eye recognition), lasted about 30 seconds against Worst. Once in, Uiharu wasted no time, and set to work on hacking the offline storage's main computer._

 _"You think they would have invested in at least one wooden lock, if only to keep out aliens in blue boxes says Misaka with a playful grin."_

 _"Honestly I think it's because none of them are Espers that they make oversights like that." Kuroyoru said in a surprisingly thoughtful tone. "But they treat us as nothing but labrats to poke and pull apart, never equals to share ideas with."_

 _"Oooooo, has this Misaka's Pet Kitty developed a fondness for philosophy?"_

 _Kuroyoru blushed slightly before replying._

 _"It's normal for a girl to reflect on society's shortcomings when it's this screwed up!"_

 _Worst laughed lightly at that._

 _"This Misaka always thought you were more than just a dark side thug."_

 _"Oh?" Kuroyoru replied hopeful as she looked towards Worst._

 _"But to think this Misaka has helped her Kitty become a better person, when all she wanted to find was a cute cyborg catgirl to torment for the giggles. Life is full of surprises!"_

 _The hopeful look dropped as quickly as it came._

 _"You really are the Worst" Kuroyoru said with a sigh._

 _"Guys.." Uiharu said softly._

 _"I mean just when I think you have a nice side..."_

 _"Seriously guys..."_

 _"... you always go and spoil it."_

 _"I'm in."_

 _That finally got there attention._

 _"So what in there exactly, asks Misaka as she inquires with grim curiosity?"_

 _Uiharu scanned through the files._

 _"Lots and lots of emails, including quite a few from a Board Member called Mrs Kobayashi on progress reports. Requests for students to be transferred, all Level 1s oddly... Lists of chemicals and equipment. Ah here we are, a outline on Project Loyal Phoenix..."_

 _Uiharu's blood went cold._

 _Unsurprising it was Kuroyoru who realised something was up first, none of the Sisters were particularly good at reading emotions via body language after all._

 _"How bad is it?" She asked in a grim tone._

 _"The purpose of Project Loyal Phoenix is to create sleeper agents that can be activated to complete a mission for Academy City."_

 _"Just 'a' mission, as in singular?"_

 _Uiharu nodded in a gloomy manner before she added detail._

 _"The parts of there brains that handle their Esper powers are overclocked and pushed well past thier normal limits. For a few hours they can use there powers at level somewhere between a Level 4 and Level 5, allowing them to wreck untold destruction and complete difficult objectives with ease."_

 _".. and then they die or turn into a vegetable?"_

 _"Correct."_

 _"This makes creating suicide bombers look like amateurs work." Kuroyoru stated with a disgusted tone before adding "With this project you could murder any world leader you wanted too, and for bonus points your child assassin won't be in any shape to spill your secrets after."_

 _"Seems they've advanced in both vileness and effectiveness since they created this Misaka. This Misaka supposes a mix of brainwashing and a expiry date are their insurance polices against rebellion."_

 _"Well it's all downloaded now." Uiharu explained. "We have what we came into this room for."_

 _"Roof time then, Misaka notes as she recalls the plan."_

 _And with that the four of them made there way out of the room of dark secrets._

 _The journey to the roof went without incident and once there Uiharu took a quick look around, one way up and a small one man helicopter... perfect. So she enacted the next stage of the plan and phoned Anti-Skill._

 _"Hi is that Anti-Skill Central Office?"_

 _"Indeed, how can we help you this evening?" Replied a female officer on the other end of the line._

 _"My name is Uiharu Kazari of Judgement 177th Branch Office. Security number 34627852."_

 _She gave the officer a moment to find her._

 _"Ahh yes I'm seeing your file. Your a cyber warfare specialist, what have you discover that requires Central Office's assistance?" The officers tone went considerably more serous once she realised what kind of Judgment Officer she was talking to. Cyber warfare officers didn't normally call for backup because they were involved in incident that had escalated past there limits, they called because they had found something that needed serous boots on the ground and time was a issue._

 _"I was looking into some Child Error movement irregularities around 'Windmill Middle School for Special Care'. Fundamentally the number of students being transferred to the school would have put it three times over capacity, as ruled in the Academy City School Rules and Regulations 1999. I checked the transferees out to make sure I wasn't making any silly oversights before you ask, and there has been next to none. Furthermore when I tried to access data to do with the running of the school, my Judgement Level pass kept getting blocked. I checked the school with external cameras and it seems the place has the sort of security more in line with a prison... and it's not on any juvenile correction or special mental needs list."_

 _There was a pause in the conversation, Uiharu heard some pretty manic key clicking going off. She assumed much double checking was going off._

 _"We're sending a team in now Judgement Officer Uiharu." The officer replied with a grave tone. "The staff will be giving them the full tour of the facility and fully explaining all the irregularities, or explaining from a jail cell after being subdue. The officers on the ground will make that call. For now you go get some sleep, it grows late and your still a student."_

 _And with that the call came to a end._

 _"So this is the bit were this Misaka and her friends learn just how much corruption there is in Anti-Skill isn't it?"_

 _"I bet they don't even show up." Said Kuroyoru as she took position to the left of the only door on the roof._

 _"This Misaka would note that we still have all the incriminating data regardless of what happens next and is really looking forwards to using it." Worst said with clear relish as took position to the right of the same door._

 _Uiharu kept a eye on her laptop as she quietly kept to the far right of the door. Finally what she hoped would happen, happened._

 _"Seem someone is double checking the integrate of their security, it's almost like someone gave them a tip off that a cyber specialist had been poking around their systems."_

 _She then deactivated most of the programs that were masking her presence in the system._

 _"And now someone realised their security has been compromised, how clumsy of me." Uiharu said with more of a hint of sarcasm. That got a giggle out of Kuroyoru._

 _"And now there undoing my 'quiet evening' footage..."_

 _"Target has left his high security office and is making his way to the Offline Storage Room with a industrial magnet and Glock G43 make handgun, Misaka explains as she relays information from the Network."_

 _"Anti-Skill -is- coming then." Kuroyoru noted. "Seems the corruption isn't as deep as I thought."_

 _"Told you." Uiharu replied. "They're made up of teachers. While I'm sure a few have been bribed or otherwise corrupted, most of them still care deeply about their students and will move to protect them without a second thought."_

 _"Target has left Offline Storage Room is now heading towards the roof, estimated time till arrival is one minute and forty seconds, explains Misaka as the Network takes into account the increasing speed of the target."_

 _"It's almost like the first thing he saw when he regained control of the cameras was all his security taken out with blood oozing from there heads." Kuroyoru said with a smirk._

 _"I imagine if he was thinking calmly, he might possibly realise that someone capable of hoodwinking his security and taking out his guards might be aware of his likely escape route too." Uiharu said with a smirk of her own._

 _A little less than a minute latter the door was kicked open by the Project Director. As Worst shot a sonic speed steel nail directly into the helicopter fuel tank (in a word, boom) Kuroyoru slammed the door shut and 10032 raised her rifle at the Projects Director._

 _"This Misaka would advice you not to do anything rash Mr Director, as she wouldn't lose any sleep over a man like you being filled with lead."_

"And that's how you shut down the Project Loyal Phoenix facility?" Mr Hirata asked as Uiharu finished her little story.

"Indeed." She replied.

"It's annoying that Frog Faced Doctor currently has Director Ito in his care." Mr Hirata said with a sigh. "The Chairman won't let us execute anyone in that hospital for reasons he won't diverge. We will have to make sure has a little 'accident' after he's discharged to prevent Anti-Skill asking him any questions. "

Uiharu resited the urge to comment 'It's almost like we pulled a few strings to make sure he was sent there'.

"Apparently according to the Anti-Skill report, he was found on the roof in a badly injured and unconscious state." Mrs Yamamoto stated. "I assume the two Level 4 freak girls did that to him before they fled the scene."

"Well the girl's story clears up more than a few of the irregularities at any rate." Mrs Kobayashi noted. "Both the students and guards had no idea the project went past the facility, so Anti-Skill thinks the case is closed and won't be poking their noses any further with all the incriminating Offline Storage Data already destroyed."

"So all we need to do now is get rid of that laptop... Mrs Uiharu where is the laptop with the data?" Mr Hirata asked before adding "Miss Saten safety rides on your honesty."

"Oh it's in my room, under my bed to be precise." Uiharu replied honesty. As expected Mr Hirata pulled out his phone and sent a clean up team to the location.

"Now in your story, Mrs Kuroyoru said something about needing someone like 'Birdway' for the final part of your plan." Mrs Kobayashi stated in a serous manner. "But in the story you failed to pick up a fifth member for your team. Do explain."

Uiharu grinned a little as she took Xochitl's 'flower' of her headband and placed it on the table before steeping back exactly five steps as planned earlier.

"A flower, I don't understand..." Mrs Kobayashi said in a confused tone.

"Xochitl, why don't you clear things up for her?"

"Oh it be a pleasure too." Said the 'flower' on the table. Unsurprising everyone in the room looked towards it with great alarm as Uiharu grin grew. "You see what Uiharu's plan needed was a way to get a two way microphone into this room. With that she get you all to incriminate yourselves by showing knowledge of this cities dark underbelly as she talked about it. Being a Magician, like Birdway, I happened to have access to methods you wouldn't consider in the grasps of anyone connected with Uiharu. To be specific I can make a small item appear to be a flower, including to all your high tech detection tools."

The penny dropped.

"By the way Uiharu, as your asked, I've already started sending the data to all the major media companies." Xochitl informed "They should be listing to the data in mere minutes."

"Kill the little bitch!" Mrs Kobayashi ordered with a voice that was rapidly losing control.

What happened next was a bit of blur to Uiharu. She recalled suddenly being hit to the floor by something both soft and warm. The sound of at least one gun being fired. The screams of several men in pain and more than anything... the sound of electricity.

"You really thought we weren't watching our friends back...cute."

That was the voice of Misaka Mikoto. In a matter of seconds, she had been teleported in with Shirai, deflected all the bullets fired and subdued all the security. Uiharu couldn't help but reflect that Level 5s were scary.

"I hate blind teleporting, but it wasn't like we had much choice, given the circumstances" Shirai said as she got off Uiharu and then helped her up. "Still we can now add attempted murder of a minor to the considerable list of charges they've picked up."

"Wait.. what?" Mr Hirata asked with bewildered expression.

"You fell into our little trap." Misaka Mikoto explained. "We knew your guard would be down around Uiharu in a way it would never be around me. And we knew you would enjoy bullying and intimidating her for information, especially if we left enough maybes in the method that you would have many questions."

"When did you get involved in all this?" A surprised looking Mrs Kobayashi asked.

"Oh pretty early on. Uiharu came to me after Last Order explained to her the full story of the Experiments. We're friends and Uiharu wanted the full truth.. so we had a chat."

"And I made everyone tea" Shirai added. "And after a few more chats, we started to wonder how to bring judgement on those who had murdered my Oneesama's little sisters. Truth be told I was rather surprised how far Uiharu wanted to bring judgement... but in a good way."

"To arrest the Board of Directors?" Mr Hirata asked.

Uiharu shook her head.

"I suppose the fact you think this is all about you, is in line with the kind of self centred people you are."

That made him blink.

"You will be arrested and then the media storm will begin. Regardless of how many people you have in your pocket, the government in Tokyo will then have to act, sending in every detective and police officer they can find to shake this city from top to bottom, until they can confidently say 'there are no more dark projects or vile villains abusing children." Uiharu said with utter seriousness.

"You stupid child!" Mrs Kobayashi exclaimed. "They won't stop there, there be no more Academy City by the time they've finished! In your overzealous crusade for justice, you've murdered progress.."

"Aggressively pursued progress?" Uiharu said sternly as she cut in and echoed the words she had heard earlier. "I don't want progress that got more in common with the most barbaric and shameful chapters of human history, no matter how shiny the Esper powers and fancy the technology it brings."

"Oh by the way." Misaka Mikoto said confidently. "Your policy of 'cutting those get caught' made getting good information on this rooms layout rather easy, as my sister Worst found Director Ito amazingly cooperative when he realised his best chance of seeing his next birthday was to help us bring you down before you 'cut him'."

"That traitorous dog betrayed us..." Mr Hirata said with a deep disdain.

"Oh you find people tend to do that when they know your going to kill them and possibly everyone they care about as well." Misaka Mikoto continued. "I mean the main reason Xochitl was willing to help us, because she figured out what we where up too, and knew you might hurt Saten to punish our plot..."

"Who she loves." Shirai remarked.

"No I do not!" yelled a a flustered sounding Xochitl from the flower impersonating microphone on the table. "I just don't want to see that dam idiotic fool pulled into something dangerous that she had no hand in!"

"It's so cute when they go into denial about it." Shirai said with a grin. "Because I'm sure people take on city wide conspiracies just to protect a 'idiotic fool'."

"I have much to gain in other ways!" Xochitl replied in a defensive tone. "That I protect that fool at the same time is just incidental!"

Shirai just replied with a snicker to that.

"Anyway moving swiftly on." Misaka Mikoto said in a rather diplomatic tone. "I do believe I can hear the sirens of Anti-Skill growing rather close..."

It was sometime latter at Joseph's Coffee and Restaurant. Uiharu was currently holding a small spoon and eating a very large and fancy ice cream that Shirai had bought for her as a treat. Shirai was also currently sipping on a small tea she had bought for herself.

"Still seems so normal..." Uiharu remarked as she looked around the semi busy restaurant.

"The fact it's a Saturday has likely damped the immediate impact somewhat." Shirai noted. "But I've already seen several police cars from outside the city driving around, and I suspect the truancy rate on Monday is going to skyrocket. Also their be no lack of students being taken out of school over the weekend I feel."

"My dad phoned me earlier from work... " Uiharu said nervously. "He wanted me home, but I told him I need too see this out, so he compromised and told me to have everything sorted out by Wednesday..."

"Well you'll have my company till then at least Uiharu." Shirai said firmly. "I've already come to a understand with the Dorm Manager that you be staying in my room for your own safety."

"Heh, you really are going super protective around me, aren't you afraid Misaka is going to get a bit jealous?" Uiharu joked.

"Nonsense. She knows you need to be protected 24/7 for the time being in case someone decided they don't want to go quietly. And it's not like I could ever look at you in that way anyway."

"Are you trying to say I'm not very cute!" Uiharu said with fake playfull anger.

"Course not, but my type of girl is very much of the more forceful and athletic older sister type. Your a sweet little sister type who only passed the Judgement physical test via willpower and spirit. While I will always consider you a dear friend, your not really the sort I would go for, even if Oneesama was unavailable."

"And this is what kind of conversations the Brat going to be hearing from here on out... joy." Said Accelerator as he suddenly sat opposite the two girls with a super luxury coffee in hand.

" Oh ha- hi!." Uiharu replied nervously. " Your a fair bit latter than expected!"

"One of the Kihara's thought it was play time with robots." He said in matter of factly tone that most people would use for 'I had to pick up some groceries on route'. "So I put his toys to bed and made him need one. Someone else can deal with the rest of that crap."

"Oh..." Was all Uiharu could say in reply to that.

"Anyway, what the status on Number Three?"

"Oneesama and her parents are currently in traffic within the city. They should reach the residence, the one you previously informed us was yours, within the hour."

Accelerator nodded.

"Yomikawa will be waiting to greet them. She will also be helping the girls understand the new situation as well..."

"So they still don't know what going off?" Uiharu asked. "You sure that's how you want to leave things?"

He took a deep sip of coffee before replying.

"The Brat would scream at me to find a way to stay with her." He said swiftly. "She would cry. She would beg and that would temp me to something stupid like go on the run with Worst and her. She's a small child, but I'm not, so I don't have excuse to be naïve on how the world works. I do however have a responsibility to make sure -her- world works... And Number Three can finish what I've started, crying child included."

"As long as you can live with your actions." Uiharu said seriously. He nodded back, but she couldn't help but notice a growing quiver in his motions, a unease in meeting either hers or Shirai's gaze. Uiharu hated herself in a way, but he was clearly the emotional volatile sort, so she knew she had to make sure he didn't become a suppressed mess over everything.

"It's ok to be sad, it's ok to cry. We all know doing what is right, often isn't easy or nice."

That permission let the floor gates open. Little quivers turned into full blown shaking, tears started pouring down like water out a broken dam and swift careful words turned into a barrage of emotion.

"I love her, I love her, I love her!" He sobbed. "I did inexcusable things, I was her nightmares made real and nothing better than filth. Yet when everything was all over and done with, she decided to show me kindness, to give me a reason to live and build her dreams with me of all people!"

Shirai looked stunned at the sudden emotional outburst, but Uiharu wasn't. She had aired Accelerator's feelings as storyteller to help him quiet deliberately after she had putt all the pieces together. Last Order had told her that Kamijou had fought and defeated him with the power in his right hand and the words to 'shatter his screwed up illusions'. But after talking with Misaka Mikoto and getting a good idea of what both men could and could not do, Uiharu had concluded the only way Kamijou could have won that fight was if Accelerator had wanted, in his heart of hearts, to lose.

And the reason he had wanted to lose was simple. Kamijou's words were echoes of his own doubts, his own fears. He hadn't seen the light when Kamijou had 'shatter his screwed up illusions'. The light of truth had been chipping away at the shadows of ignorance well before Experiment number 10032. Kamijou however had not only echoed Accelerator's doubts and fears, but had took up the role of hero of justice saving the innocent maidens know as the Sisters. Which of course meant in his heart that Accelerator was the villainous monster, fit only to be struck down for his crimes.

Course Accelerator's shame and fear was that Last Order would one day realise that her views on him was incomplete, that the blood on his hands couldn't just all conveniently and completely be blamed on those who had organised the Experiments. That was why, more than anything else, he went to such lengths to bleed for and protect her. To show her, especially future her, that he was repentant.

"She will understand." Uiharu said softly as she took the shaking and terrified boys hand. "Not right now and not tomorrow, but when she's older she will see all of you and still love you back as strongly as you love her now."

The words calmed him, the words helped. And with that his mask slid back on.

"I've got a Anti-Skill office to visit." He said in a far less fragile voice then he had used before. "Thanks for everything, tell Number Three that I apologise in advance for whatever Worst is going to do that drives her insane."

"We will!" Uiharu said as she went straight into full friendly Judgement Officer mode. "And leave the rest to us."

He then stooped and looked Uiharu over a long few moments before settling his eyes on hers.

"Thank you... hero."


End file.
